[Resolved] Next / Previous Links in Blog Posts

[Jessica]

The previous/next post titles are showing up at the “title” of the post automatically so the code you pasted is likely interfering with the inherent code. Try removing that code. What happened before you added that code?

[litesprint]

But then it would not serve my purpose of modifying the “visible” link text (from postname to previous post).

[Jessica]

Hrm. I didn’t have to add code to make the post title show up (I don’t think) so I’m not sure why you’re having the issue. You mentioned “modifying the visible link text.

What exactly do you want it to say? I was under the impression fro your earlier comment you wanted it to show the post title, not previous or next. Is that correct?

[litesprint]

<a href="link" title="Post Title">Previous post</a>

This is what I want.

[Jessica]

Are you editing the “single.php” template? If so, the only reason to do that is if you’re adding other elements (ie: I added a newsletter signup box). Otherwise, no additional code is needed at the post titles show up automatically.

[Jessica]

Ah, you said in your original comment you wanted it to be the post title and NOT the “previous or next post” text.

[litesprint]

No, I’m not editing any theme file. I’m using the code inserter plugin. And it’s working fine (code by Tom on Github), but messing the title attribute too, which I don’t want.

[Jessica]

In this case, you shouldn’t have to insert code to create links to your previous and next posts.

What happens when you remove that code you inserted with the plugin? Are there any links showing at all? Can you share a link to the page(s) your talking about? That might help better understand.

[litesprint]

You’re not at all understanding what I’m trying to accomplish, Jessica.

I know the theme already has the option to display links to previous and next posts showing their full post names. But I do NOT want that exactly that way. Which is why I added that code to change the linking text. But it’s affecting the ‘title’ attribute (which is DIFFERENT from the linking text), which I don’t want.

[Tom]

Hi there,

Give this a shot:

<?php
previous_post_link(
    '<div class="nav-previous"><span class="prev" title="%link">' . esc_attr__( 'Previous', 'generatepress' ) . '</span></div>',
    '%title'
);

next_post_link(
    '<div class="nav-next"><span class="next" title="%link">' . esc_attr__( 'Next', 'generatepress' ) . '</span></div>', 
    '%title',
);
?>

Let me know 🙂

[litesprint]

Not working.

It’s resulting in:

< Post Title”>Previous

Here’s the entire code I’m using by the way. And I’m only looking to modify the link text on single posts, not pagination or anything else.

if ( ! function_exists( 'generate_content_nav' ) ) :
/**
 * Display navigation to next/previous pages when applicable
 */
function generate_content_nav( $nav_id ) {

	global $wp_query, $post;

	// Don't print empty markup on single pages if there's nowhere to navigate.
	if ( is_single() ) {
		$previous = ( is_attachment() ) ? get_post( $post->post_parent ) : get_adjacent_post( false, '', true );
		$next = get_adjacent_post( false, '', false );

		if ( ! $next && ! $previous )
			return;
	}

	// Don't print empty markup in archives if there's only one page.
	if ( $wp_query->max_num_pages < 2 && ( is_home() || is_archive() || is_search() ) )
		return;

	$nav_class = ( is_single() ) ? 'post-navigation' : 'paging-navigation';

	?>
	<nav role="navigation" id="<?php echo esc_attr( $nav_id ); ?>" class="<?php echo $nav_class; ?>">
		<h6 class="screen-reader-text"><?php _e( 'Post navigation', 'generate' ); ?></h6>

	<?php if ( is_single() ) : // navigation links for single posts ?>

		<?php previous_post_link( '<div class="nav-previous"><span class="prev" title="' . __('Previous post','generate') . '">%link</span></div>', __('Previous post','generate') ); ?>
		<?php next_post_link( '<div class="nav-next"><span class="next" title="' . __('Next post','generate') . '">%link</span></div>', __('Next post','generate') ); ?>

	<?php elseif ( $wp_query->max_num_pages > 1 && ( is_home() || is_archive() || is_search() ) ) : // navigation links for home, archive, and search pages ?>

		<?php if ( get_next_posts_link() ) : ?>
		<div class="nav-previous"><span class="prev" title="<?php _e('Previous','generate');?>"><?php next_posts_link( __( 'Older posts', 'generate' ) ); ?></span></div>
		<?php endif; ?>

		<?php if ( get_previous_posts_link() ) : ?>
		<div class="nav-next"><span class="next" title="<?php _e('Next','generate');?>"><?php previous_posts_link( __( 'Newer posts', 'generate' ) ); ?></span></div>
		<?php endif; ?>
		
		<?php generate_paging_nav(); ?>
		<?php do_action('generate_paging_navigation'); ?>

	<?php endif; ?>

	</nav><!-- #<?php echo esc_html( $nav_id ); ?> -->
	<?php
}
endif; // generate_content_nav

[Tom]

Try this instead:

if ( ! function_exists( 'generate_content_nav' ) ) :
/**
 * Display navigation to next/previous pages when applicable
 */
function generate_content_nav( $nav_id ) {

	global $wp_query, $post;

	// Don't print empty markup on single pages if there's nowhere to navigate.
	if ( is_single() ) {
		$previous = ( is_attachment() ) ? get_post( $post->post_parent ) : get_adjacent_post( false, '', true );
		$next = get_adjacent_post( false, '', false );

		if ( ! $next && ! $previous )
			return;
	}

	// Don't print empty markup in archives if there's only one page.
	if ( $wp_query->max_num_pages < 2 && ( is_home() || is_archive() || is_search() ) )
		return;

	$nav_class = ( is_single() ) ? 'post-navigation' : 'paging-navigation';

	?>
	<nav role="navigation" id="<?php echo esc_attr( $nav_id ); ?>" class="<?php echo $nav_class; ?>">
		<h6 class="screen-reader-text"><?php _e( 'Post navigation', 'generate' ); ?></h6>

	<?php if ( is_single() ) : // navigation links for single posts ?>

        <?php
		$prev_post = get_adjacent_post( false, '', true );
        previous_post_link(
            '<div class="nav-previous"><span class="prev" title="' . esc_attr( $prev_post->post_title ) . '">%link</span></div>',
            esc_attr__( 'Previous', 'generatepress' )
        );

		$next_post = get_adjacent_post( false, '', false );
        next_post_link(
            '<div class="nav-next"><span class="next" title="' . esc_attr( $next_post->post_title ) . '">%link</span></div>',
            esc_attr__( 'Next', 'generatepress' )
        );
        ?>

	<?php elseif ( $wp_query->max_num_pages > 1 && ( is_home() || is_archive() || is_search() ) ) : // navigation links for home, archive, and search pages ?>

		<?php if ( get_next_posts_link() ) : ?>
		<div class="nav-previous"><span class="prev" title="<?php _e('Previous','generate');?>"><?php next_posts_link( __( 'Older posts', 'generate' ) ); ?></span></div>
		<?php endif; ?>

		<?php if ( get_previous_posts_link() ) : ?>
		<div class="nav-next"><span class="next" title="<?php _e('Next','generate');?>"><?php previous_posts_link( __( 'Newer posts', 'generate' ) ); ?></span></div>
		<?php endif; ?>

		<?php generate_paging_nav(); ?>
		<?php do_action('generate_paging_navigation'); ?>

	<?php endif; ?>

	</nav><!-- #<?php echo esc_html( $nav_id ); ?> -->
	<?php
}
endif; // generate_content_nav

[litesprint]

Works perfectly! Thanks a ton, Tom!

By the way, are the surrounding codes also necessary if I only care about it on single posts? If not, I’d prefer a shorter and cleaner code just for single pages.

For example:

// navigation links for home, archive, and search pages
and
// Don’t print empty markup in archives if there’s only one page.

[Tom]

Those are just comments – you can keep them or remove them, it won’t make a difference.

At some point, you should explore using filters to make changes instead of overwriting the entire function like that. Overwriting the entire function means you won’t get any updates we make to it in future versions.

[litesprint]

I wasn’t referring to the comments themselves, but the respective sections of code.

Also, I don’t understand PHP, and that bit of code was taken from your Github which you’d suggested in an older thread. I’m always eager to get the job done using the most efficient way.

[Author]

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